It’s no secret that I am an amateur when it comes to all things web publishing. Throughout the semester it’s been a struggle just to pick up the most basic web skills, and I’m sure eBooks will be no different. Luckily for me, the wonderful professionals at “LinkedIn Learning” have broken down the process enough to where even I could learn how to create an eBook. This week’s lesson in eBook Foundations helped me through the process of creating, publishing, and selling an eBook. So, now I know how to create and publish an eBook but where do I even begin writing one? And how do I make it look good?

I am always trying to learn from the mistakes of others, which is why I was relieved to find a resource on formatting eBooks that helped me do just that. From his website “CreativeINDIE”, author Derek Murphy has written an in-depth guide on eBook formatting mistakes titled, “ 6 Disastrous eBook Formatting Mistakes You Probably Don’t Know You’re Making“. Here he outlines 6 mistakes to avoid when creating an eBook and ways in which to correct them. Here I want to highlight the most helpful nuggets of wisdom Murphy shared in his blog post. These include:

• Breaks between section, header spacing: Murphy suggests changing the Style Sheet (CSS) for the eBook style and adjusting the spacing for headers there, rather than using a return key for consistency.
• Front and back matter:  Murphy suggests using the front section (usually meant for copyrights/ etc. in real books) to give a quick introduction or something special for your readers. For the back section, use it as an opportunity to link to other books, blogs, or content you’ve written previously.
• Embedded fonts, paragraph styles: Murphy suggests avoiding confusion by embedding fonts that are simple for the body texts, and any special fonts for headers only.
• Image resolution and spacing: Murphy suggests that to keep photo quality consistent for all eReaders to set all photos at 1200px wide.

Another huge takeaway from Murphy’s blog post is that the consistent use of a Kindle previewer is so important. Just because your eBook looks incredible on your laptop does not mean it will look good on an iPad or Kindle. Using a previewer to make sure your images and fonts all stay the same once the final product is given is crucial to the readability of your eBook.

**NOTE: This chapter is a revised version of a blog post titled Mistakes to Avoid when Creating an eBook on Journey to the Center of the Web blog